Message Series: Half-Truths "I Don't Need the Church to Get Close to God."

Today is the feast of Pentecost, which is considered the birthday or the launching of the Church. So we want to confront the half –truth today that says this: I don’t need the Church to have a relationship with God or be a good person. This is a growing phenomenon in our culture. More and more people are giving up on Church. Some give up on Church because they get tired of the hypocrisy or in fighting. Others give up on Church simply because while they believe, they think they can experience God better on their own. They say things like, “Faith is personal. I have a relationship with God on my own. I am a good person on my own, so I don’t need the Church to help me to be good or help me in my relationship with God. I can commune with God out in nature. I can connect with God through prayer. I don’t need the Church to have a healthy spiritual life.

Others give up on Church because of the failures of some of its leaders or because of the injustices done by people in the name of Christ or his Church.

And certainly there is truth to those statements. Certainly, there is a big element of our faith that is personal. We want everyone in our community to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And of course there are people in the church, high-ranking officials who have sinned and done things completely wrong – that data is irrefutable. And yes, there is hypocrisy in the Church. No doubt about it, but those statements don’t take into account the whole truth. So today, I want to tell you why we need the Church, why belonging and committing to a local Church is absolutely vital to a vibrant relationship with God, to spiritual growth and ultimately our success and satisfaction in life.

The Church is the Body of Christ. It is the visible body of Christ.

Now there are many reasons you need the Church. You need the Church to have the word of God broken open and explained. You need the Church to receive the Eucharist and Penance and other sacraments. You need the Church to learn about Jesus. You need the Church to help you worship. However, I want to focus on three reasons.

The first reason you need the Church: You need the Church to serve and understand your spiritual gifts. Paul writes, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different working but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” Paul says here that everyone who is in the Church has some kind of spiritual gift. God has given you some gift or some kind of service that he wants you to perform. You discover this through serving other people.

God wants to use you in some major way. He wants you to make an impact for eternity and the way to discover that is by serving some way in the Church. It is vital you serve in the Church for your spiritual maturity for two reasons. One, your faith grows when you are given a ministry or work that you feel totally ill equipped to do. And during those times you are more likely to get on your knees and say, “God, I have no idea how I am going to do this.” Having a ministry will drive you to prayer. A second way you experience God in serving is at some point if you serve, you will experience the Holy Spirit working through you. You will come to know God’s presence in a way you never had before. You will have an experience in which you will say, “That’s not me. That is someone else working through me.

The second reason you need the Church: You need it to benefit from the other members of the Church. Paul uses this analogy for the Church, which is more than an analogy really. He says, “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body.” Paul later goes on to explain that the different parts of the body need each other. Your eyes need the ears to hear. Your Ears need your eyes to see and get where they need to go. Your eyes and ears need your legs to get anywhere.

To be healthy, you need the faith and help and gifts of other believers. You need the faith of other followers of Christ. You are not sufficient by yourself. You are not meant to do life alone. You aren’t meant to try and lead your family all alone as a father or as a mother. You aren’t meant to try and deal with the temptations and struggles at work on your own. You aren’t meant to figure out this faith thing and where God is leading you on your own. God wants you to benefit from the strength and abilities of other people. He wants to use other people in the church as his delivery system for the emotional and spiritual support you need to not only survive but to thrive and people.

We need the Church because we need the momentum and movement of other people to help us go faster in your spiritual walk. Geese can fly 70 percent further flying in V formation than they can on their own. In receiving the spiritual giftedness of others you are able to meet needs you could not meet on your own and go further faster.

You don’t have all you need to follow God. You need help. The other members of Christ’s body the Church are God’s plan to help you grow.

To discover the third reason you need the church I want to look at the reading from Acts of the Apostles which tells us about what the first followers of Jesus did after his resurrection and ascension into heaven. Acts tells us that “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they are all in one place together.” (Acts 2:1) Notice, they meaning the apostles and other close followers of Jesus gathered together as a community.

Then looks at what happened, “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” When they were at prayer as a community, then the Holy Spirit came.

Then look what happened, “Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language…Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Yet we hear them speaking in our tongues of the mighty acts of God.” So at Pentecost, the birth of the Church, all these different nationalities were in town for the feast. Pentecost was a feast held fifty days after Passover thank God for the harvest and offer back to him first fruits.

All these different nationalities are in town and God brings them together so they can hear the Good News that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection has reconciled us to God. While sin separates and brings disunity, the Holy Spirit brings unity. Whereas in the story of the Tower of Babel when people’s language became confused, the Spirit unifies language so they understand one another. God’s vision for the world is one of unity. He is bringing together people for his family He doesn’t want the world divided, but unified under his love and care, unified by a praising Jesus as Lord and Savior.

You need the Church in order to be a part of God’s vision for the world. You need to come to Church as a reminder that God is bringing his people together and forming his family. The Church is the visible sign that God invites everyone, everyone into a relationship with him.

He wants every occupation: doctors, educators, business men and women, entertainers, and even lawyers. As we noted a few weeks ago, the church is the only organism that brings together all facets of society together on a regular basis.

God wants every nationality to be a part of his family: red, yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight.

God wants every person and every background and the Church is to be a reminder that God is drawing all people to himself. You need the Church to fulfill that mission. You need the Church to be your partner in bringing other people into a relationship with God.

You need the Church. I need the Church and none of us will grow to a level of spiritual maturity where we can do faith on our own. Now let me add one other thing. And this is something only some of you need to hear. You need to commit to a specific Church. You need to commit a community of believers. There isn’t much value in drifting from Church to Church in search of sacraments. God’s vision for the Church is not to be a sacrament station or a place where you meet your obligation. I’m not saying it is wrong to go to another Church from time to time, but when it is your habit, to avoid making a commitment anywhere, that is a sign of spiritual immaturity.

Commit to love a church in a specific community. GK Chesterton said, “Rome was not loved because it was great. It was great because it was loved.” A Church community becomes great because people love it and sacrifice for it. The health of our Church depends upon people who love this particular community. They love the Church right here in Timonium and accept it warts and all. They love the Church despite its idiosyncrasies, despite some of the difficult people in it and despite the inadequacies of her leaders.

I hope you come to love or are growing in love of this Church as I do. My challenge to some of you who are drifters is to commit to this Church if you think you can love it or find a church where you do love it.